


Things Left Unsaid

by lost_constant



Category: Captain America
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 04:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_constant/pseuds/lost_constant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They thought they were clever. They thought they could hide the <i>obvious</i> attraction and tension between them. Thought they could play it off with snarky, witty banter and coy smirks and secretive glances. Thought that if they laughed loudly enough when they said "no, we're just friends" that people might believe them. But those around them knew. <i>Everyone</i> knew.</p><p>The only real question was…did <i>they</i> know?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Left Unsaid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wabbitseason](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wabbitseason/gifts).



It started out the way most relationships of this nature do.

Attractive male sees attractive female. Attractive female sees attractive male. Attractive female then proceeds to kick attractive male's ass. Really, it should come as no surprise at all to anyone that the two of them would wind up at this point. It was destiny – pure and simple. Written in the stars! - or at least in the cliché scripts of a good romantic comedy. But try to inform James Barnes or Natalia Romanova of that and it would likely be one of the last mistakes you'd ever make.

They thought they were clever. They thought they could hide the _obvious_ attraction and tension between them. Thought they could play it off with snarky, witty banter and coy smirks. Thought that if they laughed loudly enough when they said "no, we're just friends" that people might believe them. But those around them knew. _Everyone_ knew.

The only real question was…did _they_ know?

It was a relationship that had started years ago. In a time that neither of them really chose to ever talk about, it seemed. When James answered to the name of "Winter Soldier". When Natalia first started to come into her own as "Black Widow".

From the moment James first set eyes upon Natalia, there'd been an undeniable attraction. Beauty, brains and a deadly efficiency in combat – she was the kind of woman to make _any_ man's blood stir. And, of course, Natalia was no less affected by the intensity, strength and passion of her combat-instructor as he led her through the motions and katas that had been ingrained into his very soul. Sparring sessions became something that the both of them looked forward to, and it should come as no surprise that it was there that the volatile relationship first began.

But the relationship didn't remain there on the sparring mats. No, of course not. Despite the fact that she was engaged to another man, James was headstrong and had always been the kind of man to go after what he most wanted. He managed to sneak into Natalia's bedroom – a regular Romeo climbing the terrace to meet with his deadly Juliet. There they made love for what would be the first of many times. A mutual attraction – a slaking of lust, nothing more…that's what they told themselves. A means by which to release some of the pent up tension and frustration that arose throughout the day. It meant nothing.

And yet, it was _nothing_ that somehow managed to save what bit of sanity and humanity James retained inside of him. Late into the nights, when the rest of the house slept, James would lay alongside of his beautiful Natalia. Hold her against him. Curl his body protectively around hers. Hands that were stained with the blood of those he killed would touch her flawless skin…and she would touch him. She would kiss him and run her fingers through his hair and stroke her hand tenderly along his bionic arm.

Outside that bedroom, things were cold. Things were dark. Things were ugly and evil and violent. But there, in the arms of that devoted woman, James found some sense of redemption.

Yet all good things must come to an end. But only for a brief time. After all, the bond that the two shared was something that seemed to dare the very laws of time and space itself.

When they met again, James would be an entirely different person. He would be a man that was lost and alone and bitter. No longer "Winter Soldier", he was entirely without identity, dropped off carelessly to be discarded into a world that wasn't his. Yet amidst that chaos and that fear and that loneliness, she would find him. Once again, a single ray of light within his state of existence. She would guide him into the warmth and comfort of her arms and he would fall. Clutching at this _one thing_ that remained constant. She would provide him with the comfort and stability that he so desperately needed. In a world where he was unable to tell _who he was_, he would look into her eyes and there he would find peace. He would find identity. He would find _home_.

He would grow stronger. He would rise to take on the burden of an entire country as he took up the weighted shield of his mentor. He would face a world that hated him. A world that despised him for what he was and what he'd done. For his bravado in _daring_ to wear the legend's colors. And yet, through it all, there she stood. Ever alongside of him. Quietly whispering her words of encouragement. Lending him strength when he had none. Fighting alongside of him, right where she should be. Daring anyone to try and stand in their way.

Late at night, he would whisper to her his gratitude. He would kiss her and hold her and run his hands across her body. He would make love to her – slow and tender…rough and passionate. He would wrap his arms around her and hold her protectively against his body, shielding her from all danger as they slept.

And yet, when the morning came, they would rise to greet another day. They would talk and laugh and banter as they always did. They would ignore the rumpled sheets of the bed between them and the tell-tale marks on their bodies. They would separate and depart with no more than an "I'll see you later".

It was nothing. It meant _nothing_.

And yet, as Steve Rogers quietly watched Bucky wrapping an arm around Natalia where they stood on the balcony, he couldn't help but to smile.

"When do you think he'll tell her?" Sharon whispered as she walked up behind him to lean her head against his shoulder, and Steve chuckled.

"That he's in love with her? Probably when he figures it out for himself."


End file.
